As part of the upcoming Free Update, we have a new set of weapons coming to Darktide! These include both new marks for existing patterns, as well as some brand new patterns entirely! We’ve interviewed some of our Game Designers to talk about them in this Feature Highlight.
“I’m Matteo, I’m a Game Designer specializing in Weapons. My favourite class is Psyker, and I make a sick tiramisú.” ~ Matteo
“I’m Erik, a Game Designer also specializing in Weapons. My favourite classes are Zealot and Psyker. I can confirm that Matteo makes a sick tiramisú. I can't cook or bake but I'll make you a perfect 'Last word' cocktail.” ~ Erik
“It’s a big sledgehammer. And it’s big even for an Ogryn, so it’s HUGE, heheh.” ~ Matteo
The “Cruncher” two-handed Hammer is a relatively simple, but effective weapon. The heavy attacks are powerful, wide swings with good damage and stagger potential to mow down hordes with. The Weapon Special attacks behave like heavy attacks in that you can charge them, but use a Strikedown, single-target focused moveset.
As a unique quirk, both the heavy and the special attacks become more powerful the longer you hold them! Of course, as such a massive weapon, it’s quite slow both in movement and in swing speed, so timing your attacks is essential.
“So you want to make your attacks count. You’ll be able to control the enemies with it, but you need to pace your attacks so that you can hit the enemies and leave as small of a gap as possible between them.” ~Matteo
“The Arbites shotgun was very well received, so we wanted to give something in that line to the other human classes as well.” ~ Erik
Available to all Human classes except Arbites, the Huntsman is a pump-action shotgun that was designed to behave similar to the Exterminator Shotgun. Not just in gameplay but also in feel, since pump-action shotguns have a uniquely satisfying cadence to them that we wanted to get just right for this gun.
Compared to the other shotguns these classes have access to, such as the Combat shotgun, the Huntsman is slower and heavier, but packs a stronger punch. It has a classical cone pellet pattern and is extremely efficient at close to medium ranges. It also doesn’t have special shells for its weapon special, and is instead the first shotgun with a flashlight!
The Thugshot is a slug shotgun for the Ogryn. It looks quite similar to the Kickback, but as it fires slugs instead of pellets, it is far more precise and concentrates its firepower on a single, devastating projectile.
“It’s basically the equivalent of a human cannon, but in Ogryn hands, so… it shoots pretty hard, I would say!” ~ Erik
Each shot has a powerful impact and deals heavy damage to pretty much anything. It’s decent at dealing with heavily armoured enemies, but is not particularly specialized at it. While it is reasonably accurate, it’s not a weapon that excels at extreme ranges, but it’s a good alternative to use against threats in mid to long distances.
“I imagine the players are gonna have fun pulling out a quick cannon, getting off a shot and then back to swinging with the new two-handed hammer!” ~ Erik
Just like the Indignatus Mk IVe, this Crusher variant is available only to Zealots and Arbites classes. It sports a unique moveset to provide an alternative flow of attacks and chains, keeping things interesting. But the main feature that differentiates them is the Weapon Special!
While both marks’ Weapon Special empowers the weapon’s next attack, the Mk VII’s explosion is far more powerful, but it then goes on a cooldown where you can’t use the Special again for a few seconds. This approach lets us keep both styles of Weapon Special available to the family, letting players choose their preferred Weapon Special.
“This is basically a non-sawed off variant of the sawed off double-barreled shotgun.” ~ Erik
Because of the longer barrel, this version has a tighter spread compared to the Crucis Mk XI, making it more effective at farther distances but worse at blasting down crowds of enemies before you.
Beyond these distance changes, the main differences are that this variant shoots both barrels when hipfired (while it only fires a single shot when using the alternate fire mode), and that the alternate fire lets you Aim Down Sights, rather than bracing it.
This lets the shotgun excel at picking off priority targets in the midrange, while still having a powerful blast available for close quarters combat. Damage wise they’re very similar, but not identical; small tweaks here and there between the two marks.
“Those small changes make it play very differently.” ~ Erik
Finally, we have a simple new variant of the Ogryn Slab Shield! This one plays very similar to the existing mark, with the main difference being a new Light Attack moveset, with a bigger focus on Strikedown attacks. This lets you use the heavy attacks for clearing and controlling hordes while still having an option for single target damage.
“We’re always looking for fun niches to explore that don’t exist in the current roster. [...] We always work as hard as we can, to do as many weapons as we can and always expand the arsenal. To give the players new, fun toys.” ~ Erik
Due to not sharing any weapons with humans, the Ogryn arsenal is smaller and so we took this opportunity to bring them two new families, one melee and one ranged. In particular, we know that Ogryn mains have been itching to have a new big two-hander to crush punies with, so we hope it meets expectations!
All five of these weapons have been concepts that the design team has been toying with in the background for a while, and this upcoming Free Update was a great opportunity to bundle them all in a pack and release them.
“I like the Ogryn Thugshot because I think it fills what used to be a gap in his arsenal. It’s fun to play with, very rewarding when you cleave through several heads with a big cannonball. But also, as a player, I wanted a pump-action shotgun for my Zealot, so I’m pretty excited for that as well.” ~ Erik
“For me, definitely the hammer, it’s nice. It stays in the same area of the pickaxe, of these giant Ogryn weapons that you want to have, but it leans more into the ‘stagger everything’ idea of the Ogryn. In the same vein as the clubs, but those are relatively fast. This one is like slow, giant swings that just topple everyone.” ~ Matteo
“We’re excited to see the players get their hands on the new weapons, along with the new map!” ~ Erik
That’s all we have for today! We hope you enjoyed this early look at the weapons coming in this Free Update!
We’ll see you on the Mourningstar.
– The Darktide Team